Schools not meeting new standards

By Cassie Smith and Brooke Crum

Published 9:46 am, Thursday, January 23, 2014

One year after the state raised its minimum passing standards, the number of Southeast Texas schools that have not met them in the past two years is almost tripled, and several Hardin County schools have made the list.

Twenty-four Southeast Texas schools fell short of minimum state standards in 2013 - up from nine the previous year - making their students theoretically eligible for transfer to better-performing schools.

The Public Education Grant Program list released Thursday by the Texas Education Agency included 892 schools statewide, up from 456 in 2012.

Silsbee Superintendent Richard Bain said that the middle school made the list in 2011 for scoring too low. The scores have since improved, however, a school can remain on the list for up to three years, even it if has met the minimum standards.

"Unfortunately, we're on that list for three years regardless of what you do," he said.

To make the list, at least half of a school's students must have failed the state tests in two of the three previous years or be rated "academically unacceptable" in 2011 or "improvement required" last year.

Four schools in Beaumont, six in Port Arthur ISD, three in West Orange-Cove CISD and one in Nederland ISD made the list.

Willie Ray Smith Middle School in Beaumont is on the 2013 PEG list because it has stayed on the list since 2011, when the campus was rated "academically unacceptable" and more than 50 percent of its students failed the state science exam.

The other three Beaumont schools - Ozen High School, Blanchette and Fehl-Price Elementary - are on the list because they did not meet minimum standards last year.

Students who attend a school on the list - where 50 percent or more of students did not pass any state exams in the past two years - can transfer to a better-performing school inside or outside their school districts for the 2014-15 school year.

Kountze Superintendent Reese Briggs said as soon as the scores came out, administration began doing a thorough analysis of the data. Briggs said they've already begun addressing the areas in need where performance was low, including social studies for the middle school.

"There were a lot of areas that our kids did well in," Briggs said. "We look at our strengths and continue to bolster those but we also look at the areas of need and will do a complete data analysis, which we've begun."

Schools districts are supposed to notify parents of students who attend a school on the list by Feb. 1 so parents may request a transfer for next school year, according to the TEA.

"It gives parents the option to transfer students if schools are not performing as well as they think they should," said Dwaine Augustine, BISD assistant superintendent.

That has been an option since 1995 when the state legislature created the PEG program. Schools do not have to accept transfers, but if they do they receive a little extra funding from the state for each transfer student.

Targeted improvement work has already begun at Beaumont ISD campuses that made the list. Augustine said every campus endured a needs assessment in the past year to determine improvements to be made.

State exams begin in about two months with the first round of writing tests on March 31, and testing will continue through June.